Devanagari (DAY-və-NAH-gə-ree; देवनागरी, IAST: Devanāgarī) is an Indic script used in the Indian subcontinent. Also simply called Nāgarī (Sanskrit: नागरी, Nāgarī), it is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system), based on the ancient Brāhmī script. It is one of the official scripts of the Republic of India and Nepal. It was developed and in regular use by the 8th century CE and achieved its modern form by 1000 CE. The Devanāgarī script, composed of 48 primary characters, including 14 vowels and 34 consonants, is the fourth most widely adopted writing system in the world, being used for over 120 languages.
